Press Release
Rapleys Acquires Northmill Associates Accelerating Growth of Manchester Business
Rapleys Acquires Northmill Associates Accelerating Growth of Manchester Business
11th Nov 2026
- Team of 14 including two partners join Rapleys in Manchester
- Northmill, a chartered architectural practice, complements Rapleys’ established property services in the region
- Acquisition follows five new senior planners joining the office in last 12 months
The 14- strong Manchester-based practice operates across the UK and was established in 2016 by Ged Connor and architect Ian Grice. It delivers innovative, functional architecture that makes a positive contribution to the built environment, rethinking design to create high-value, low-risk solutions alongside like-minded partners.
Northmill Associates works across the private and public sectors, providing full architectural consultancy services, Principal Designer and specialist technical advisory services. The team are specialists in Alternative real estate such as Automotive & Roadside, and the Public Sector, with a focus on Education and Law & Order.
The team will form part of the business’ multi-disciplinary Building Consultancy division, working closely with the existing Project and Cost Management, Land Development Management and Building Surveying teams.
Over the last 12 months, the Manchester office has added five senior planners including Partners Bernard Greep and Michael Gilbert from Stantec. Rapleys also brought in Joshua Klepper as Associate Partner in Commercial to further strengthen its multi-disciplinary offer in the region.
Simon Harbour, National Head of Building Consultancy at Rapleys, said: “Northmill Associates are an experienced and respected architectural practice that will work perfectly with our building consultancy teams in Manchester and across the UK. Their governmental advisory work puts them at the forefront of best practice design delivery, strengthening our consultancy offer to provide best value to our clients. This is the sixth business acquisition for Rapleys in just a few years, and we will continue to add other companies, teams and talent that fit our culture and services as part of our sustainable growth strategy.”
Ian Grice added: “We founded Northmill Associates to deliver innovative, technically led architecture for complex projects. Joining Rapleys gives us the platform to take that expertise further, combining our architectural and advisory strengths with its market-leading Building Consultancy, Planning capability and growing Manchester presence. It is a strong cultural and strategic fit, and an exciting opportunity for our team and clients.”
In the last few years, Rapleys has acquired Southwest planning consultancy CSJ, commercial businesses Aston Rose and Mellersh & Harding, Building Surveying specialists BlueBrick Consultancy and the Retail and Hospitality agency and capital markets teams from AY. Regionally, in addition to its expansion in Manchester, it has also added senior planners in Birmingham, expanded in Cambridge, launched a Cardiff office with a market leading Building Consultancy and Project Management team and added strength and depth across various Alternative sectors with Building Consultancy, Planning and transactional experts in Education, Data Centres, Renewables and Public Sector and launched new services such as Retrofitting and Building Safety.
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Associate Partner & Head of Property Management
Claire Hutchcraft
Associate Partner, Head of Alternative Investment
Rebecca Harper
Senior Surveyor – Cost Consultancy & Project Management
Harriet Beesley
Partner – Finance Director & Head of Central Services
Debbie Scaife
Partner – Head of Public Sector Development Consultancy
Jonathan Bernstein
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Lisa Stratford
Senior Surveyor, Housing Consultancy (BCG)
Harrison Berkhauer-Smith
Jerry Welch Team Assistant to Retail, Hospitality and M&H.
Jerry Welch
Associate Partner & Head of Building Surveying Cambridge
Rowan Haines
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